


Who Will You Be at The Six-Mile Inn?

by captainkelso



Category: American Murder Song - Various (Album)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-19 13:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14874338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainkelso/pseuds/captainkelso
Summary: After Messrs. Storm and Tender wrap up their bloody adventures with the Donner Party, they discover that the stories of the residents that reside in the Six-Mile Inn have some unfinished business. Six new Marked souls in the present time have no idea what's in store for them, and it won't be long before cries of "Murder! Murder!" will be heard once again.





	1. The Black Wagon Returns

_Murder Ballads:_   
_Songs that tell of murder…_   
_Some **true** , some shot_   
_Some **wild** , some caught_   
_Some **borne** , some **taught**_   
_Some **cruel.**_

Welcome aboard The Black Wagon for another frightful ride through history. When we last saw each other, Messrs. Storm and Tender witnessed the horrifying fate of The Donner Party in 1846. Writing down songs that bore the victims’ stamps, the Blood Travellers set a course to head back to their home at the Six-Mile Inn. But something was amiss when Mister Storm flipped through the pages of the book that held every song, every hymn, and every story that the brothers had ever told. Previously, they had stolen it back from Mother Columbia and her men, and it wouldn’t be too long before Storm and Tender would have to guard the book like it was their bible. Who were they kidding? It was their bible- their job to keep it safe and out of harm’s way. But upon scanning through the stories of the Six-Mile Inn occupants, there were blank pages after every person. That wasn’t there before, but Storm didn’t seem to notice on a first glance. He certainly noticed when the Mark upon his arm started to glow and burn.

“Tender!” he cried as the burning was so great that he accidentally dropped the book.

But from upstairs in the small loft of the wagon, Storm could hear wailing. His Mark was burning too.

“Storm, what the hell is going on?!”

Just then, both men felt the Black Wagon screech to a halt, throwing the travellers to the floor abruptly. When they finally picked themselves up, the two men gathered together in front of the wagon’s door. Peering out, Storm and Tender gazed out at their surroundings. All they could do is stare at each other.

“Alright…” Tender murmured, looking abroad, “Well...This is new. Better get out the book.”  
“A-About the book,” Storm stuttered before putting on the fakest smile he could, “Uh...There are new pages.”

Mister Tender nodded, “Yeah, that’s normal, Storm-”

“No no no,” shook Storm’s frizzy head of hair, “There are….new pages after Lavinia, Rosalie, Johnny, Mary, and Henry…”

“What does that got to do with anything?”  
“New chapters, Tender!” the other panicked as he looked at the unfamiliar terrain around the wagon, “What if their stories aren’t over yet?”

Meanwhile, Tender wasn’t exactly listening, training his eyes at the objects passing by them, making the wagon shake back and forth, “The book brought us to The Donner Party, but….I have no idea where we are- when we are.”  
Planting a hand on Mister Tender’s shoulder, Storm quickly turned him around to face him, “Tender, listen, and listen well!”

After a brief silence and a straightening of his coat, the other nodded, “Okay...I’m listening. What’s your mind thinking?”

Staring his brother in the eye, Storm took a deep breath, “Those blank pages? I think there are some Marked here, but not just any. They might have something to do with Lavinia, Henry, and the children.”

A loud noise came from outside, which caught the two off guard, making them hold onto the walls.

“Caine!” Tender yelled at the top of his lungs, “What the hell was that?!”

The Wagon ended up in a place that they didn’t know where they were, but everyone else around them knew. They were smack dab in the middle of a divided road in the middle of New England.

**_Are you a survivor?_ **


	2. II. Taught

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the present day, a newly marked emerges in the darkest of places in the most dire of circumstances. But this isn't the Mary you've come to know...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning that there are triggers such as abuse, blood, and killing! Of course you are strong enough, dear trav'ler, to get through it since you've managed to get through the Messr's tales, but just a fair warning. Safe journey, trav'llers!

_Murder Ballads:_

_Songs that tell of murder…_

_Some **taught.** _

 

A greasy gloved hand grabbed the small pale wrist that was about to take off their worn, bloody ballet shoes, _“You’re dancin’ tonight, whether you like it or not, kid!”_

     The smaller hand tried to free itself from the death grip that the other gave it, the color of the pale skin starting to turn blue and- if it wouldn’t let go soon- to violet. He never went easy on her, not once. Ever since she could walk, she was forced to dance in front of hundreds of people per night, the patrons not even knowing that this ‘Nightmare Circus’ wasn’t just some fake attraction that came around the Halloween season. Performers were usually found in the most unusual places, and some were even tricked into joining the circus. Even so, most of them never survived their first night on stage for not being spectacular enough in their performance, resulting on the ringmaster killing them in front of the live audience. It was fake, the audience would relay to themselves. But oh, they were dead wrong.

     Jack Schmidt, a literal killer clown. ran the bloody spectacle of a show- and he was the one clutching the smaller person’s arm, not even caring if their hand were to fall limp. Chaotic, destructive, and monstrous, Schmidt escaped the authorities multiple times for abducting and killing young children in the south. Somehow he managed to skip his way down to Florida, and then Singapore to spread his gut-wrenching ways, developing and churning his ideas until he created his perfect and deadly circus.

      “I-I’ll surely collapse,” a quiet and frail voice, a young female’s, replied, tugging away with all her might to get away from the clown, “And you don’t want me to ruin my act.”

      " _Listen here, kid,”_ the orange haired, white makeup faced man growled in her ear, _“You either dance, or you die. You saw what happened to Valerie...and **Marco.** ”_

      “D-Don’t mention Marco,” the girl replied. A powder blue dress covered her slim body, bright blonde pigtails went down to her waist. She looked to be younger than the twelve year old she was- most likely from the malnutrition and constant strain on her physical health. Sapphire eyes couldn’t even match up to Jack’s flaming and unnatural yellow ones.

     The clown didn’t think twice before letting the child’s wrist go with force, causing her to almost collapse on the rotting wooden floor, _“Then_ _**dance** **,** Mary.” _

     Mary never could stand up to Jack. He was her father. The poor girl never received an education other than teaching herself how to read and write. Going outside the theater where the circus currently resided at wasn’t an option. If Mary were to be caught, then she would be severely punished. It didn’t help either that most of the performers in Jack’s circus were as apathetic as him, not giving a hoot of the little girl’s problems. Only Shorty, a hunchbacked boy, and the now deceased Marco, the skilled aerialist, had sympathy for her. Unfortunately though, nor the two men could get past the killer clown. Nobody could. Unless you wanted to be on the chopping block at the next show, you never complained or said you couldn’t do something.

     Quickly putting her hand out to catch her fall, Mary was glad that her father had let her go, her tattered ballet shoes made her feet ache more and more. They hadn’t been replaced for about five years, dirtied and bloodied. Yes, bloodied. The clown made the tiny ballerina dance for as long as she could. If she wasn’t performing, Mary was either forced to practice for a few hours at a time, or sleeping in a broom closet for as long as the yelling and screaming outside would let her. As the twelve year old stood to catch her breath, she kept thinking to herself, ‘ _I can’t do this anymore. I physically can’t do this. I have to tell father.’_ She never would have the guts to, however.

     But, as Mary looked at the empty stage that was to be filled with circus performers in ten minutes, she finally made up her mind: she was going to get out of this horrible place. Without wasting another moment, she fled as fast as her tiny, aching legs could carry her out of the theater, knowing that as soon as Mary left, that Jack would be looking for her. Slowing down wasn’t an option, but at the same time, the child didn’t know exactly where to go, never being in the outside world before. A few droplets of rain started to come down from the sky, making the dirt below Mary’s feet start to turn into mud, her shoes starting to stick to the ground while her feet slipping out of the shoes themselves.

     Eyes scanning the area as she ran through the puddles, the child tried to find a way to blend in with the surrounding landscape before her. Sure, Mary could’ve blended in with the other ‘actors’ that tried to scare patrons, but her main priority was to blend in to get away from Jack. Pushing through the narrow paths that the patrons were walking through to get to the theater, Mary couldn’t get far without falling over once or twice, tripping over other human feet, and it wasn’t long until-

**"** **_MARY!”_ **

       _Where is our Mary? Run, run away._

      Pale hands pushed through the crowd with all the strength they had, legs running to one of the antique circus wagons.

 _“Mary, come home!”_ Jack yelled, although the words weren’t comforting at all, piercing the night with a knife, **_“Dark is the road where the devils play, Mary! Now, get back here!”_ **

     Mary didn’t listen, her panting and gasping for breath overpowering her hearing. Abruptly, she flung open the door of the cart before slamming it behind her. It wasn’t until a second or two later that it flung open again to reveal the horrendous form of Jack the Clown, sharp teeth snarled into a threatening frown. Catching one sight of him, the child screamed and grabbed onto the thin and long ladder that lead to the second floor of the wagon. Even though Mary lacked in energy, the adrenaline in her body made it so she climbed up the ladder pegs in almost no time, her hand already reaching up to grab the hatch handle. Jack, however, was faster, and when the pigtailed girl got hold of the handle, he was already halfway up the ladder, snarling and growling.

     When the sapphire eyes looked for a split second, seeing that her father was there, her murderous father, they widened and then a scream came from her pale lips. In reaction to Mary, Jack cackled and grabbed the child’s leg, which made the girl scream even louder, tears started to roll down her cheeks.

      And then she kicked her leg forcefully upward.

     Never had the twelve year old Mary ever think that just the jolt of a limb could make a grown man like Jack fall twenty feet- and it did. It was quick, a flash of time before Mary saw the clown fall down with a booming thud on the wooden floor, crimson flowing from his head. The poor child could only stare down in horror, eyes widening and mouth agape.

      He was dead.

 

     Now the only thought that ran through Mary’s mind was, ‘ _Run!’_

      She could escape from the hurt, the abuse, from the pain she had suffered. This man was a murderer! But Mary couldn’t help but fight: he is my father! Her mind kept fighting itself, but in the end, her small form climbed down three quarters of the way down the ladder, skipped over Jack’s lifeless body, and ran out the door. The performers loyal to the ringmaster would find him sooner or later, and if Mary wasn’t careful, they would find _her._

     When she fled the area, clear cries of ‘sweet little children’- the backup dancers, screaming crimson, could be heard, flocking to ‘father’ on the floor. Trudging through the mud, Mary cried quietly as she went through the terrifying events, the rain steadily starting to downpour. Walking for a good half hour, Mary escaped the site of the circus. She didn’t know where she was headed, but was sure she could find some shelter if she just kept going. But, as the rain became harder, the mud becoming more slippery, and the blood from her feet mixing in with the puddles, Mary’s legs finally gave out, causing her to fall into a heap. Tears flowed as hard as the rain was coming down, and the girl of twelve with little hope thought at that moment that nobody was going to save her from this horror. As if things couldn’t get any worse, the child screamed in pain from a burning sensation on her wrist. Slowly lifting her trembling wrist out of the mush, her other hand carefully scraped the mud off it to reveal a strange marking that looked to be embedded in her skin. Mary stared at it for a few seconds, blinking a few times to try and see through the stinging tears. Unfortunately, she didn’t know what it meant. But, as she started at this marking, she didn’t have time to process two pairs of footprints making squishing sounds in the thick mud coming towards her. One held a compass, while the other held a large open book in his hands. She certainly didn’t notice them when they were just a merely few feet away- until Mary heard singing from one, and a humming tune from the other.  

 

 _““Way-hey! Fiddle-aye-ay!_ _  
_ _Where is the parson? Come out and pray_ _  
_ _Dark is the road where the devils play_   
Mary, Mary, come home..”

 

     And as the abused child stared up at the two strangers, her eyes went to glance up at the book that the long-haired man was looking at, and what it said was this: ~~_Mary_~~   _Kelsey Johnson._

  
  


**_Daughters what’s promised and braided and bought and sewn together by fathers and knots, then left on the road with the wolves and forgot? How close? A little more._ **

 

**_Who will you be at the Six-Mile Inn? Follow the Mark._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack and the Nightmare Circus come directly from the 'Jack's Nightmare Circus/Recurring Nightmare Circus' that took place in 2014 and 2016 at Universal Studios Singapore for Halloween Horror Nights! Mary is an original profile for the little girl in the show, as well as the other names of the performers besides Shorty!


End file.
